PRCAI AGM welcomes Government’s intention to regulate PR industry

The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) reiterated its commitment to high standards and guidelines pertaining to the working of PR agencies and consultancies at its Annual General Meeting held in Delhi on April 30, 2010.

The AGM also welcomed Home Minister P Chidambaram’s reported view to regulate the public relations industry and stated its readiness to assist in any way in the formation of any regulation, if and when required.

The PRCAI, set up in 2003, has self regulatory guidelines on ethics and standards and these norms are followed by all the 19 members that are part of the industry association. PRCAI President, Sharif D Rangnekar, said that there was a need to underline the commitment that India’s leading PR agencies had towards ethical operations and transparency. “There is a growing view in the media that PR consultancies indulge in systems and processes that are inappropriate. We at PRCAI have clearly followed guidelines that are common in most developed markets. Transparency and ethics is what our members and the association stand for. In fact, the PRCAI is modeled on the PRCA UK structure,” he added.

In addition to ethical standards, the PRCAI has over the years developed and adopted guidelines on management systems and efficiency. The PRCAI, when set up, had a mission to establish benchmarks in standards, knowledge, ethics and expertise, and to encourage and promote the progression of the public relations industry in India, while endorsing the effectiveness of professional and ethical services. At the AGM, the mission was reiterated with an objective to constantly adopt better practices keeping in mind transparency and corporate governance.